This article explores the usefulness of detective role-play as a research method to facilitate young children's critical thinking. The study examines four specifically designed detective play experiences, adopting an ethical rights-based approach to research with children. This qualitative multiple-case study is grounded in play-based pedagogy…

The article analyzes the aesthetic dimension of play installations designed by university students of Early Childhood and Social Education in a Spanish interuniversity project. These installations respond to the complexity of children's spontaneous play by highlighting its pedagogical value and the importance of the aesthetic dimension. The…

A decline in children's opportunities for outdoor play was observed during the past decades. Expanding opportunities for outdoor play through intergenerational programs for children and elders could benefit their mental and physical health. This study explores the learnings that Canadian grandparents and their 3- to 5-year-old grandchildren…

In this article we examine young children's outdoor narrative play as animated by the possibilities of running. Guided by posthuman perspectives, the provocations of sociomateriality, and the capacities of mycelial networks, we consider how stories and storying might occur in and as movement. We draw on interdisciplinary understandings of moving…

Access to equitable, quality, and inclusive early childhood education (ECE) has positive effects on school readiness, transition, and overall development and learning in all children. This paper seeks to explore barriers and facilitators to the implementation of learning through play (LtP) for preschoolers in Kenya with a view to enhance…

This study investigated the development of computational thinking (CT) in young children within the specific context of Hong Kong. The researchers utilized an unplugged digital arts activity to explore the CT knowledge exhibited by children and document their developmental trajectories. A sample of 23 children aged 3 to 6 years participated in an…

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of fathers' participation in the Father Support Education Programme on their perception of their role as fathers and the development of play skills in their children. The study sample comprised 40 fathers whose children, aged 5 and 6, were enrolled in independent pre-schools located in the…

Objective: Listening to children has been frequently adopted by researchers working within a child's rights paradigm, as an uncontested method that veritably represents children's 'voices'. Whether children can be understood to participate, and their voices represented veritably, when their lives are culturally situated and co-constructed with…

Paternal involvement in household and childcare has increased over the past century, but global studies show that most mothers still remain responsible for a significantly higher proportion of total household care and childcare. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has further negatively impacted mothers, who take on the majority of childcare…

Purpose: This paper offers a reflection of a research process aimed at listening to young children's voices in their everyday school life through a play-based context in a Scottish school. Throughout the research process, the complexity of conducting this research was kept in mind as listening to children's voices presents methodological and…

Play, which is both a context and process for children's learning, has become a pivotal pedagogical component in global early childhood education. The uptake of intentional teaching has contributed to the shift in understandings of play, from viewing play as a means of recreation and entertainment to a more socio-cultural perspective that…

This paper reports a small-scale qualitative inquiry in the discipline of Early Childhood Studies in Higher Education that explores how playfulness in pedagogy might create an environment in which people within the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector (including students) engage in dialogue about structural injustice. Participants in…

This article reflects on observations as a dance pedagogue, adapting Gilbert's BrainDance to a range of learning and teaching opportunities in intergenerational classroom contexts. Initially applied in an early childhood education context, BrainDance provided a point of departure into conversations and observations with teachers on how the…

A pedagogical strategy called "play-based learning" was one of the new visions, purposes, and objectives introduced by the kindergarten program. Play-based learning is a child-centered approach that emphasizes play-based learning in the curriculum material. This qualitative study's goal was to investigate the pedagogical methods…

This study adopted a qualitative approach and analysed interviews from seven parents with children enrolled in nursery and kindergarten in Ghana. The interviews examined parents' descriptions of play and learning and how they perceive the value of play in children's learning. The findings revealed that the parents generally have doubts about the…